A Shot at Fate
by R Amythest
Summary: sequel to The True Heart of the Dice A year after the Shadow Realm opened and the Puzzle shattered, Ryouji finds some legal documents, and the news isn't good. At the same time, Tea's parents are considering divorce. All is complicated... Discont'd.
1. The Heart of a Songbird

R Amythest: Okay, first off, if you have not read 'The True Heart of the Dice,' it's. . . *dun, dun, DUUUUUN!* okay! If you're good at using clues to guess what happened, it'll go along well enough. But to have the smoothest flow and know what's going on, go and read it if you wish. For all you people waiting for this. . . Change of Heart Ryou has a message.  
  
COH Ryou: *clears throat and organizes notecards* I apologize for the extreme tardiness and stupidity of this piece of work, and hereby apologize all you cooperative readers who have sat by and droned through the whole thing. I apologize even more to the people who have devoted their time to reading the story before this and stuck through the whole thing just to read this.  
  
R Amythest: Hey! Who writes the notecards?!  
  
COH Ryou: *flips card and reads off* However, I must say that I thank all of you who have reviewed for 'The True Heart of the Dice' and even more thankful for those who have read all my hikari's work. Huh? Hikari?!  
  
All Muses and Authoress: *eyes slowly turn to Yami Amythest*  
  
Yami Amythest: ^^;;; hikari told me ta write the stuff!  
  
R Amythest: You're not supposed to insult me or scare away reviewers with potential! Anyway, on with the fic. . . .  
  
|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|KEY|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|  
  
All you need to know right now is that *~*~* is a change of scene and/or passage of time.  
  
*~*~*  
  
It was Tea's senior year in high school. That meant that Ryouji was in college, along with Seto. But Tea's friends, Yugi, Joey, Tristen, Ryou, and Malik, were all with her, in the same grade. That also meant that it was a year since the Shadow Realm opened up, and true love was found within darkness. Ryouji's game shop had gotten even larger, and he was practically as rich as Kaiba. Not quite, though.  
  
A few months ago, Ryouji had proposed marriage. Tea had delayed it, since she thought it would be best to continue her education first, or at least get out of high school. But they have dated quite a lot now, and they were having quite a good time. And now, she was casually skipping down the sidewalk, visiting/dating the second-richest guy in Japan. Most ladies would drool over the thought, but for Tea, it had become a casual thing. She just went and had fun. Of course, that didn't mean she took it for granted. She knew how hard it was to find time to get together, especially with the approaching finals. Ryouji went to Tokyo College, and was only available on weekends. Also, her parents had been having. . . trouble.  
  
She stopped now, in front of the crowded game shop. Visitors were crowding the front door, and a lady was busy passing out pamphlets. Fortunately, the couple had seen this day come and go before, and had planned ahead.  
  
What was the day? The anniversary of the first professional Dungeon Dice Monsters game, between the inventor and the Game King, AKA the day Yugi beat Ryouji badly at his own game in front of hundreds, maybe even thousands, on a big-screen TV. And many had heard of the rematch, and how Ryouji had won. So they were considered equal. In their hearts, they both knew that Yugi would win the next challenge, now that his Yami was here. Unless the Millennium Puzzle would break again. Tea smiled slightly at the memory, and headed out back.  
  
There was a rickety warehouse right behind the game shop. More like a game department now, actually. It was several stories higher than it had last been, and that's saying a lot. They had stock of almost everything, at reasonable prices. But Ryouji had been nice, and decided not to specialize on Duel Monsters. Yugi's grandpa was thankful for that.  
  
The warehouse was also quite tall. Tea heard rumors that it was once the most successful game shop in Japan. But not anymore. Some tourists said that 'the gift of the store' gave Ryouji his success, but she believed it all came from his hard work. She climbed up the stairs of the abandoned store now, and onto the balcony. There, she was greeted by another staircase up all the way to the top story porch of Ryouji's Game Shop. And that porch had a door connected to the office in the corner- Ryouji's office.  
  
Tea climbed the final flight of stairs and knocked on the door, smiling as to look her best. Her crush opened the door, and invited her. "My employees won't let me easy when I tell them to devote their hours to work, and I'm up here having a date. . ."  
  
She giggled, and relaxed into a soft couch. She loved the tranquil days up there with Ryouji. He plopped down next to her on the couch and slung his arm around Tea's shoulders. She sighed softly and snuggled into his chest, happy just to lie there. She could hear his heart beating softly, almost slowly. It was like time was suspended just for them. "Hey Tea. . .?" he started quietly.  
  
"Yes?" Tea questioned, looking up at him with large, chibi-like eyes, snuggling closer to him.  
  
"You know the thing about marriage I told you about earlier?" he asked, stroking her hair.  
  
"You want to, after I'm done with college and such?" she asked back, allowing her eyes to close and his gentle hands run across her auburn hair. She was enjoying it when he stopped.  
  
"That's the problem," he said quietly. "I discovered some papers yesterday. . . legal papers that prevent marriage. It turns out my dad had something against my mom. . . he was complaining about how my mom died and left him with debts and always became hysterical about it. He was quite a crazy guy. . . So to 'help my future and protect me from poverty,' he placed in his will that I cannot marry anyone! It's completely illogical!"  
  
Tea nodded. "I agree. . ."  
  
"Furthermore, he had something against sister-in-laws. Meaning, as long as your mom's with ya, I can't." Ryouji 'humphed' and quickly got off the couch, startling Tea. "This whole grudge's ruining our hard-earned relationship!" Tea sighed and pulled him back on the couch.  
  
"Your dad's not alive to change the will, right?" she asked, holding his arm and snuggling into a warm and comfy position again.  
  
"No. But there was a little gap in his 'no-marriage' rule. If I can prove that I can handle the streets in event of poverty, I can marry. Really," he growled, "this is totally unfair!"  
  
"But you're plenty rich!" Tea protested.  
  
"That's what I told the authorities. They won't take it," Ryouji grumbled. "What do they want me to do, climb a mountain?!"  
  
Suddenly, there was a knock at the door. Tea went to her usual hiding place- the closet behind the stock of Dungeon Dice Monsters. It wasn't actually as small as you would imagine. It was about the size of a small room, and held several shelves of games. She had looked around before and found a small tower of monopoly. There was also some basic Duel Monsters stuff. Once, when she looked in the far corner, there was a supply of 'Candy Land' and 'Life' games. Ryouji had told her that customers still ask occasionally for them. Now, she went to the back of the closet to the shelf full of Dungeon Dice Monsters accessories. She hid in the most comfortable position she found a few months back. She squeezed behind the extra dice and the advanced DDM duel disks and she sat down on a chair prepared for her. She was now between two gigantic towers of boards- the old-fashioned way to play. She sighed deeply, hoping the boredom wouldn't be long.  
  
*~*~*  
  
Ryouji opened the door, and a man stood there. He was dressed in the usual Domino police uniform- a black suit with badges and pins. He turned his steely gray eyes on him. "Mr. Otogi, I am here to discuss the recent death of your guardian. . ."  
  
*~*~*  
  
The man, Police Taka, gathered his papers and straightened them out on the desk. "I'll be leaving now. I assume you are busy. I'll agree with your musing that this is a rather farfetched will, but the rules are the rules." He turned the doorknob and looked back. "And technically. . . marriage is illegal for you, so don't try to hide lovebirds."  
  
Ryouji crossed his fingers behind his back and swallowed. "No sir."  
  
"Ja ne." He left. Ryouji sighed in relief and pulled the closet door open. "It's safe, Tea." She inched through the stacks of stuff and went to embrace him.  
  
"What did he want?" she asked softly. Ryouji ran a hand through her hair.  
  
"Just discussing the wills of my father. Everything gets more and more inconvenient. . ." he sighed, running a hand through her hair. They were silent for a few seconds before Ryouji finally spoke. "I think it's about time for you to go." Tea nodded and slowly pulled away from the embrace, reaching for the porch door.  
  
"Sayonara, Ryouji. Ja ne. . ." she whispered behind her.  
  
Ryouji sighed after she left. "She has the heart of a songbird. . ."  
  
*~*~*  
  
Crickets: *chirp* *chirp*  
  
R Amythest: cuuuuuute! CRICKETS!  
  
Muses: *sweatdrop*  
  
Maya Kaiba: I thought MY fics were bad. . .  
  
R Amythest: urusei! (shut up!) Anyway, I admit it, the beginnings are usually crappy. . .  
  
Yami Amythest: and the plots are worse. . .  
  
R Amythest: !! YAMI!! No, actually, my plots are quite original, usually. I admit I'm not the next Spyder or White Angel or Wingleader Sora Jade or something, and then I might not even be good as Kaehimi, but I'm not dumb!!!!! Compare me to. . . say. . .  
  
Yami Amythest: Farla, and then finally let me make fun of you?  
  
(in case you don't know, Farla is practically the best writer in the Pokemon section and has HUGE chapters. . . lotsa reviews, too)  
  
R Amythest: !! NO!!!!! Yami, why don't you go play with Yami in your. . . say. . . bed!  
  
Ryouji: *snickers*  
  
Harp (a WingWeaver from 'The Heart With the Cards.' I use muses from that story a lot.): *sweatdrop*  
  
Shimmer (a Shining Friendship from 'The Heart With the Cards'): *giggle* *squeak*  
  
Yami Yugi: *eye twitches and edges away*  
  
Yami Amythest: Ha ha. Why don't you and 'kirei tenshi Ryou' make out?! (kirei tenshi: beautiful angel)  
  
R Amythest: ^^ RYYYYYYOOOOUUUUU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  
  
All: *sweatdrop*  
  
COH Ryou: please, someone save her sanity. . . help!  
  
Maya Kaiba: last time she was hyper. . . meep! (A/N: yeah, she says 'meep!' a lot. . . I think it's influence of meercas in neopets, but it's only a guess. Hey look! It's an A/N in an A/N!)  
  
Ryou (yeah, I keep both the Change of Heart one and the regular one here!): Maya Kaiba. . . can you do a favor and sic your Yami on her?  
  
Maya Kaiba: nope. Only if she got her hands on Seto. Bye, have fun with the crazy authoress!  
  
R Amythest: ^____________________________________^ *glomps COH Ryou and Ryou* REVIIIIEEEEEEEEEEEEEW! 


	2. Cards of Desire

R Amythest: yes, I know we all hate Ryouji's dad's will. . .

Ryouji: *CENSORED* *CENSORED* *CENSORED* #$^%#^&#^&^*$^#%@$%^&^$#^&*&*%&$^#%^%&^*&*%&$^#%$^&*%!!!!!

Audience: *silent*

Person 1: isn't this PG13? Profanity is allowed. . .

Person 2: what if it requires R, or NC-17?

Person 1: . . .

R Amythest: um. . . anyway, I hope Tea'll forgive me, (and you reviewers for such a late chapter,) but uh. . . read!

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*~*~* lapse of time or change of scene

'thoughts'

Yugi to Yami

Yami to Yugi

[Ryou to Bakura]

]Bakura to Ryou[

{Malik to Ishtar}

}Ishtar to Malik{  
  


Italics show read print, emphasis, flashback, voice in phone, voice in head, or dream 

Bold shows emphasis during dream, flashback, phone calls, a voice in head, or read print__

~Duel Monster speech through telepathy. Probably won't use it for a while, though.~

*~*~*

Sapphire eyes lazily rolled and looked across the room, looking with jealousy at the pictures of Yugi and Yami, Tea and Ryouji, Ryou and Malik, Bakura and Ishtar, and Joey and Mai. But he was in none of the pictures. And what were the pictures of? The young promised couples, who he thought had never experienced the venom of the world. Of all people, he thought he would be the only survivor- harsh and unforgiving, he thought it was a quality of those who had survived. But he was wrong, and in missing out the rapture of life, he had missed the chance to love. He had been taught that life was a test, and only the fittest would pass. But he now realized he was wrong- maybe only the toughest would survive, but only the most open would find happiness.

Seto looked back to the computer, 0's and 1's flashing before his fatigued eyes. "Hey, Serenity loves you," he told himself. Then he sighed and leaned back in the chair. "April fool. . . admit it, me! No one loves me except Mokuba!" He slouched out of his chair and grumbled. "And now I'm talking to myself. . . gods, I must be insane. . ." He headed towards the kitchen to get a drink.

*~*~*

Tea curled up on her bed as there was a loud crash downstairs, followed by quarrelling. There was the sound of the screeching of the table skidding across the room below. She sighed and looked at the card between her fingers, the Shining Friendship. The card after it was the Happy Lover. "Why couldn't these cards act their powers out here? They're so much needed. . ." she whispered. She tucked her deck, with the cards on top, under her pillow. Sighing and looking out the window absent-mindedly, she leaned back on the head of the bed. There was another crash, and a thud that vibrated through the walls. "I wish _he_ were here. Though now I know. . . he never will be." 

She slid down, rested her head on top of the part of the pillow over the cards, and pulled the blanket up, not bothering to change or wash, as she usually did. "Most people would say one wish would be spent on peace. But for me, it'd be love. Mom and dad would get back together, and Ryouji's dad's grudge wouldn't exist." She sighed again. "All the world really needs is love. . ."

*~*~* (just a note, in case you were wondering, the cards did NOT glow or perform magic or something! Um. . . that night, at least. . . ^^;;)

It was nearly midnight, and car's headlights cast a slight shadow by the lone figure standing on the edge of a cliff. Behind him, there were teen girls giggling and laughing and gossiping about who they thought was hot or gross. 'Even if they have hearts in their eyes when they look at my picture,' Seto thought bitterly, 'they only idolize me. Not love me.' Aloud, he thought, "If I jumped, would anyone care?" He said it softly so that the teen girls and the drivers of the cards wouldn't hear, but he could himself. "Mokuba would. But now he's 13, and he can make a wise decision for a guardian[1]. . . unlike me. I haven't been all great to him myself. . ."

'Just one round of Trivial Pursuit, please?' 

_'Mokuba, it's spring, the tournaments are all starting, and consequently, I believe that more people will want Duel Monster products- so I want to take advantage of this rush and gain a huge profit!'_

_'Profit, Duel Monsters, and tournaments! That's all you ever think about now!'_

_'Be reasonable. . . I still love you. Some day I'll sit down and just wear the day away playing with you, but not now.'_

_'Work, work, work! You're too mature for your age!'_

_'Too mature? Maybe its YOU that's not mature!'_

_'. . .'_

_'Please, you're making me forget binary code!'_

_'Fine, be a rich, insane, and selfish snob!'_

'A rich, insane, and selfish snob. . .' the words echoed in his head. Some were the same ones Yugi and the puppy dog had chosen. 'He's right, I was too mature for my age. . . I think I forgot how to have fun. . .' "Nobody would care if I jumped off. . ." he concluded, "nobody."

"I would."

He turned around so quickly that he almost fell off the cliff. Serenity seemed startled by his sudden action. Behind her, Joey was shouting, "Sis! Get back hea'! You were goin' ta see da new movie, rememba'?! Not t' save Seto Kaiba from suicide or somethin'!" Seto stiffened slightly at how close the guess was.

"Actually, I AM here to save Seto Kaiba from suicide 'or something!'" she called back, slipping her hand in Seto's. He was startled from this new emotion, no one ever did this before. . . except that one time he lost a bet and had to dance with Mai. And even then, her nails were digging in his flesh. This was totally different. A gentle, yet supportive, hold.

*~*~*

It was midnight. The telltale ring of a phone rung through the house. Ryou groaned and turned over, stuffing his head under the pillow. The phone rang again. Unfortunately, there was a phone in his room, and the pillow didn't help block out the sound. Annoyed, he picked up the phone and pressed the 'on' button, which was glow-in-the-dark.

"_Hello Mr. Ryouji, we now have information that you can surpass the will by going to the Cave of Origin and bringing the hieroglyphic panel and. ._ _._"

"Sorry, you have the wrong number," Ryou cut off, slightly dazed by the overload of information and the fast speaker.

"_Isn't this Ryouji Otogi?!_"

"Sorry, you have _Ryou Bakura_ not _Ryou**JI** Otogi_," he responded.

"_Oh._" There was a pause, and a mutter of, "he's unlisted?! Damn it!" "_Do you know his number?_"

"Uh. . . no. . ."

"_Sayonara._"

There was a click as the phone hung up. "Uh. . . cheerio?" Grumbling, he hung up the phone and buried his head in his pillow. There was another ring. He rolled over and took the phone again.

"Hello, this is _RYOU BAKURA_ speaking. . ."

"_Bakura, you're evidently not a night person. . ._"

"Oh, it's you Tea. . ." He stopped. Tea? That call was something about Ryouji's will. . . he knew he should've redirected the call to her. . . "I received a call from someone who mistook me for Ryouji. . . something about a will. . ."

"_A WILL?! Ryou, you just HAVE to remember it!_"

He sighed and focused. "I. . .don't know. . ."

"**_YOU'RE AN 'A' STUDENT! YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO HAVE GOOD MEMORY!_**"

He held the phone farther. "Sorry! I really can't remember stuff at night! Sometimes my Yami would tell me secrets and by daylight, I'd forget!"

". . . fine. What do you remember?!"

"Uh. . . something about a will and some cave. . . and hieroglyphics. . . he was speaking really fast. . ."

"**_WHY DIDN'T YOU MAKE HIM CALL ME?!_**"

"I didn't know Ryouji's number, and I forg-" he paused. 'That isn't exactly the most pleasant thing a friend would say. . . especially since she's evidently sensitive about this. . .' "I mean, I. . ." he was horrible at lies, "he hung. . . no. . ." he didn't want to lay the blame either.

"_Bakura, quit that. If you're going to lie, make it believable. . . I know you probably forgot about my connection to him. . . you really aren't a night person. . ._"

He yawned. "What did you call me for in the first place?"

"_I was GOING to ask about info on Ryouji's will. . . but you can forget it now. . .knowing you, you probably have already. . ._"

"No, Tea, I'm going to try to help. . ."

]TRY being the key word.[

[Yami, _you're_ going to help.]

"_Ah. . . sleep well, finals are in a day. You don't want to repeat what happened last year, do you?_" Last year, Ryou had tripped down the stairs and had to go to the hospital for a week, that week also being the week the final exam was in. What he tripped on, only his yami knew. And evidently, it was Yami Bakura's object. That was a pretty big influence, and he crammed all the extra credit in he could, and still got stuck with B's. Yugi called him lucky, but it wasn't all that good in Ryou's point of view.

"Uh. . . no. . ." he yawned again, "okay, bye. . ."

"_Bye. . . And don't you DARE forget to forward Ryouji's calls to me!_"

"I'll try to remember. . ."

"_Okay. See you tomorrow._" She hung up.

He placed the phone on the stand and tiredly got off his bed to disconnect the phone. 'Now, I'll get some sleep. . .'

]No you won't. You promised to meet Malik and _Ishtar_ (Yami Bakura: ^______^!) in a few minutes![ He looked up at the clock, which read 12:28.

[. . .! Two minutes to run four miles?!]

*~*~*

[1] Seto played a game of chess with Gozaburo Kaiba to be adopted. He won, but Gozaburo was hell. . . In the Japanese version, Seto killed Gozaburo by pushing him out the window. . . in English, he had a heart attack because of the THREAT of pushing him out the window. As usual, the dubs screw the good parts up.

*~*~*

R Amythest: . . . I found a pattern in my writing. I always make Tea shout at Ryou. Maybe it has to do with her getting annoying every now and then, and then I have a reason to hate her. . . ^^;; as for the slight hint of humor. . . that's only for now. It'll get angsty later.

Yami Amythest: not at the rate this is going. *flips through The True Heart of the Dice* in this, every chapter has plenty of humor. . .

R Amythest: . . . *glares* THIS IS DIFFERENT!

Ryouji: whatever. I JUST WANT MY FLUFF SCENE WITH TEA!

Yami Amythest: *hands him a cup of herbal tea and chocolate hugs and kisses, dumps the chocolate into the tea, and stirs* there, you have your fluff scene with tea.

Ryouji: *glares daggers at Yami Amythest, spilling the tea over her* THE PERSON, !#@$%^#^&%$^%#^&%$#^& *CENSORED* *CENSORED*!!!!!

R Amythest: . . . tell me, do you search the dictionary for words labeled 'obscene' and 'vulgar slang'?

Ryouji: how'd you know?!

R Amythest: ^^;; I just guessed. . .

Malik: and I thought I was the evil guy around here.

R Amythest: *BEEP!* STEREOTYPE WARNING!

All: *sweatdrop*

R Amythest: anyway, I'm going to torture you LOTS in the next chapter to 'It Came With the Rising Sun,' so I'm going to give it to you easy right now. *pushes a sofa, table, and booster packs of YuGiOh! Cards in front of Malik, and hands him hot cocoa with marshmallows. . . and of course, pixie sticks* Get comfy!

Malik: O.O. . . ^_^ I guess I should be happy. *leans back deeply and sighs, sipping*

Fangirls: KAWAII!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

R Amythest: *glares* BACK OFF! It's his relaxation time. . . . . . . . . . . . *yacketty, yacketty, etc.*

Malik: y'know, having an authoress protecting me might be good. . . ^^

R Amythest: . . . there, so shoo!

Fangirls: *groan and leave*

R Amythest: ^^ that's better. REVIEW!


	3. High School Hell

R Amythest: ehehe, *coughs* me late. Me bad girl.

Ryouji: *crosses arms and 'humphs.'*

R Amythest: and after this, I got to get typing 'It Came With the Rising Sun.' Geez, and my birthday's coming soon, when does an authoress get a break?! .!!!!

Yami Amythest: … calmit. ANDSHUDDUPABOUTTHESTUPIDBIRTHDAY!

Ryoujii: heh, someone's sure pissed right now.

R Amythest: ^^;; Um… read, leave a nice review, and enjoy this chapter, High School Hell!

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*~*~* lapse of time or change of scene

'thoughts'

Yugi to Yami

Yami to Yugi

[Ryou to Bakura]

]Bakura to Ryou[

{Malik to Ishtar}

}Ishtar to Malik{  
  


Italics show read print, emphasis, flashback, voice in phone, voice in head, or dream 

Bold shows emphasis during dream, flashback, phone calls, a voice in head, or read print__

~Duel Monster speech through telepathy. Probably won't use it for a while, though.~

*~*~*

When you hear the word, 'finals,' what do you think of? A bell? A test with the letter 'F' written at the top in bold red ink? A pretty bishounen peeking glances at you through long bangs, without regard for his grade? Or, rather, as Tea thought miserably, the blank piece of paper she was supposed to write an essay on about the scientific breakthrough in holographic technology. She gave a sideways glance toward Kaiba. He was scribbling away confidently. _Figures. He's the guy who made it._ Again, she wrote a few sentences, crossed it out, grumbled, then threw it away. She was faced with another blue-lined college-width page of horror.

_Finals. Bleh._

She wrote at the top in her bubbly handwriting, "The Science of Holographic Technology, by Tea Gardener." For a moment, she wished she'd studied, like Ryou, who sat beside her. Was it just her, or was he mocking her with the fluent scrape of his pencil? She pushed away the thought. _I was only helping Ryouji_, she told herself.

_…but I didn't quite succeed._

And now, she wasn't going to succeed on this, either.

Scratch.

Scratch.

Crumble.

Sighing, she again wrote, "The Science of Holographic Technology, by Tea Gardener." Finally getting an idea, she scribbled, "Throughout the ages, humans have attempted to create something out of thin air, and desperately tried to use magic. However, these attempts have been futile."

_I bet if Yugi were writing this, Yami would be ready to strangle him,_ she giggled mentally. "With new holographic systems that range from games, such as Duel Monsters and Dungeon Dice Monsters, to martial arts training,[1] it has made these ancient dreams somewhat awaken."

"Ten minutes!" the teacher called. Tea nearly jumped with surprise, since she was concentrating pretty hardly. She blanched as she saw how much more she had to complete…[2]

*~*~*

"I can't believe we've only STARTED our finals. I swear my hand's going to fall off," Yugi commented, massaging his hands. He was much taller than his Sophomore height; it appeared he finally got his growth spurt. Now he was just a tad shorter than Joey.

"Yeah, 'n' I can't believe I had ta write 'bout Kaiba's department!" Joey complained. His blonde hair was now a tad less bright, but definitely longer, and he now held it in a short ponytail. He hadn't bothered paying for a haircut. (The coach of the soccer team cursed it. Something about effeminate guys belonging to Home Ec.)

"And _how_ _did you do_?" Tea asked, dragging out the last four words so they practically pelted Joey's pride. Ryou gave a small grin at this. His hair had also gotten longer, and he wore it in a rather long ponytail that he kept under his sweater. But a few thin strands always managed to get free of the rubber band, and they were similar to sideburns. (R Amythest: giving him the cute look many fangirls would faint for! ^^)

Joey sweatdropped. "Heh, not so hot." He noticed Kaiba Corp's helicopter flying above and fumed. "And now he's courtin' my sista! Can ya believe dat egotist's goin' for Serenity?!" 

Tristen facefaulted. His hairstyle remained relatively unchanged, still in a spike. The only difference was that his hair was a tad darker. "Serenity and Kaiba? How could _that_ ever happen?" he exclaimed. Tea gave him a death glare.

"Well, Ryouji and I got along didn't we?! And what about you and MIHO, EH?!" She feasted on the expression he offered. "NOW, ISN'T THAT AN ODDITY?!"

All four boys sweatdropped, and, grinning their 'don't hurt me, insane girl!' look, they inched away from the prideful Tea.

*~*~*

Ryouji stared aimlessly at the white marking on the board. _Look, it got longer! It curves and crosses, expanding with symbols unknown, just like life itself… never ending… until your time runs out._ This thought was confirmed as the small, stubby piece of chalk in the instructor's hand smudged into nothing. Carelessly, he grabbed another long piece of chalk to write more. _Or you could have an accident and have an early death. _The long piece of chalk snapped, and the instructor scowled and grabbed another piece of chalk, continuing his babble. _And when your time runs out… your offspring take your place. But what if your own father prevented this from happening? What if… your packet of chalk runs out? Go to the store and buy another pack._ He mentally rolled his eyes. _Nah. I'm not going to adopt. I want a child that's like me and the one I love._[3]

*~*~*

"In order to repair the hard drive of a Windows 2003 computer…" droned on the instructor, pointing out various circuts. Seto, underneath his famous cloak, toyed with a small robot he was making. He had already repaired the computer. Many fangirls swore he ran the computer mechanics class, but he didn't… unfortunately. Suddenly, the robot sprung to life and started bleeping 'Beautiful Sleeper, Wake unto Me' in a digital voice. Seto fumbled with the power switch and managed to turn it off, but he had already attracted the attention of many around him.

"Gomen," he said monotonously. The instructor gave him an 'I-wish-I-could-fail-you-but-you-could-take-my-job' glare and continued the lesson. He was receiving strange looks, but he just smirked with a glare, and the other students quickly continued fiddling with their hard drives. Seto returned his attention to the little music box robot he was toying with and started to make a mold for the outside cover, a Happy Lover. It was for Serenity.

*~*~*

"Why won't you join them?" Ryou asked, his puppy eyes begging for an answer. Malik crossed his arms, leaning against the school, not paying attention to the applause for the soccer team; Joey was leading the ball down the court. Tristen was running by him, just in case he needed a quick save. Yugi and Tea were cheering them on with enthusiastic 'Go Joey!'s and 'Shoot, Tristen, shoot!'s.

"I told you already, I'm not a social person. And besides, who knows, with these, ehem, 'mood swings'[4] I get," he mumbled, not paying attention to the shrill sound of the whistle, signaling the scored goal. 

"Malik-chan! I don't care!"

"They do," he said stubbornly, jerking a thumb towards Yugi and Tea, cheering Joey and Tristen on.

Ryou almost scowled. "C'mon, there's got to be a hidden meaning." Putting on an overly cheerful smile, he wagged his finger and accused, "Are you planning world domination again?!"

Malik rolled his eyes. "No." Inside the rod, Ishtar snickered. }I see you've got a nice little reputation all set up!{

{…thanks to you.}

*~*~*

The soccer game ended, 10-6, the Domino Akus[5] won. Joey and Tristen were receiving slaps on the back of gratitude and honor, and shouts of 'WE WON!' Yugi and Tea rushed to congratulate them. 

"That's the fourth game we won in a row!" Yugi cheered, giving Joey a hi-five.

"Yeah, we're the team with the highest win percentage of all the soccer teams in our province!" Tea added. "We get to go to the province tournament!"

Joey grinned at Tristen. "Ya up for it?"

"You kidding?! Of course!! We're going t' make pot pie out of those other teams!"

*~*~*

When Tea left the field, she was slow to make her approach on home. Yugi had offered to walk with her, but she didn't want to bother too many people with her own personal problems, except if they wanted to help… and she knew Yugi had enough stress finding out about Yami's past. In fact, she hadn't planned on stressing Ryouji about it… but Ryouji had found out on his own.

Now she arrived at her house. Muffled shouts were rattling the windows. Carefully, she stuck her key in the hole and turned it, silently opening the door and sneaking up to her room. She flung her backpack onto her chair and flopped onto her bed, listening to the slams and cries from below. Sighing, she opened the said bag and grudgingly pulled out her wretched sheets of educational doom.

*~*~*

_Ding, da ding ding ding ding dong,_[6] _ding, da ding ding ding ding dong, ding, da ding-_

"Moshi moshi!" Tea piped cheerfully.

"_Hi Tea,_" Ryouji greeted.

"Oh! Ryouji-chan! What's up?" Tea said, cupping her hands over the speaker so the crashing downstairs couldn't be heard. 

"Not much... no improvement 'bout the will, either. Had Ryou remembered the slightest bit of information, I might be able to have a lead…" His voice trailed off.

"Wait, he did remember some things!" Tea recalled. "But I forgot most of them… something about a cave and hieroglyphics? I think that's it…"

Ryouji's voice considerably brightened. "Okay, that's a good lead…" The house shook lightly with another crash. "Was that… you-know-what?"

Tea grew grim. "Yeah…" _I wish Ryouji were here with me, to protect me from the world…_

*~*~*

[1] Yeah, I know, there's no mention of that fight thing. But what I was thinking was, you know how Noah was a hologram? Well, you know, sometime in the future, they're going to have to tell the difference between fake and real people, and I was thinking that might help. That, and you can virtually swordfight! ^^

[2] you really didn't think I'd bore you with another finals essay, right?

[3] no particular point in this note. It's just to note that Ryouji's starting to think too much… I've been reading Just Ego's fics for too long. She's rubbing off on me. . I DON'T WANNA BE INSANE!

[4] I found on a few sources that Malik is bipolar, also referred to as manic-depressant disorder. It basically means you get frequent mood swings- from being a hyper manic to a suicidal crybaby. There's medicine for it, but it doesn't seem Malik's aware of it, from being cooped up in a tomb and all…

[5] Aku is skipjack tuna! It sounded cool! ^^

[6] I know that sounds stupid, but that's seriously what Tea's cell phone sounded like to me!

*~*~*

R Amythest: yeah, strange ending.

Yami Amythest: that was pointless…

R Amythest: no it wasn't! This chapter is _VERY_ important!

Malik: Hello, goodbye! *bounces across the screen* Yay! ^^

R Amythest: …go calm him down for me, Ryou…

Ryou: ^*^

R Amythest: … can you calm me, down, too?

Ryou: no! *hugglez Malik*

R Amythest: …awwwwwww, darn it.

Another Note: REVIEW! ^^


	4. Hiatus Note

**_~~This story is now on hiatus...~~_**

Eh heh... ^^;; Yeah... just as it says. *sighs* Partially due to the lack of reviews, partially do to lack of interest, and partially due to lack of time. So anyhoo... don't expect an update for a good 6 months or so.

Have a nice day!

PS: if you want to read a complicated romance fic, try 'The Music of the Stars.' Malik/Ryou... I love that pairing! *huggles* Although, that updates about once every 2 months... or more... heh heh. ^^;;


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